We're In This Together
by Rian Moeru
Summary: After managing to become one of the lucky few able to pilot a Jeager and successfully Drift with Knockout, he discovers that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Birthday fic for ToaXabineh! One shot!


**So this is a gift fic for my friend ToaXabineh, who requested that I write a sequel for the gift fic she gave me for my birthday, A Second Chance, which is a Transformers/Pacific Rim crossover! I hope she and you guys enjoy what I came up with! Sorry that it's a little late though x.x**

 **Happy birthday Toa!**

* * *

Jack groaned as he stepped out of bed, every bone and joint in his body aching even more than they did yesterday. Training as a Jeager pilot wasn't as easy as simply _piloting_ it, he found out shortly after his first Drift with Knockout. He had to learn how to fight, an easier task than it would have been otherwise given that he shared Knockouts memories and experiences through the Drift. But the actual training? Jack had no idea just how out of shape he had been.

A knock at the door had him jumping a little, forcing himself to calm as he answered, "It's open!"

No sooner than he had Knockout came through the door. It was...an odd name to be sure. When he had asked Knockout simply said that it was a code name for his style of fighting. He hadn't elaborated more than that, but from the memories Jack had glimpsed at he could begin to understand.

"It's nearly time for training. Are you ready-" Knockout stopped when he caught a glimpse of Jack in his sleepwear, to which he promptly quirked up a single brow. The teen offered a sheepish smile in return.

"Yeah, sorry. I kind of...slept in today. Had a rough night."

"Well hurry and get dress. The higher ups won't care if you're tired or not." He warned, though his smirk lessened the edge of it.

"Yeah yeah, I know...all these simulations are really cutting into my time though." Jack complained, rolling his shoulder in an effort to lessen the stiffness.

Knockout rolled his eyes. "You knew what you were signing up for when you signed the papers."

"Doesn't mean I can't gripe about the spartan conditions around here. I mean seriously, I swear I saw my lunch yesterday moving on its own. Are they feeding us Kaiju now or what?" Knockout scoffed.

"If that were the case we'd all be dead from Kaiju Blue."

"Alright, not that I don't _love_ chatting with you, but I'd like to get dressed." When Knockout didn't move, crossing his arms with his mouth twitching into a grin Jack scowled, tossing a pillow at the man. "In private!"

"Fine, fine." He chuckled, making his exit before Jack could throw anything else at him.

* * *

Jack felt a little nervous as he geared up to test the Jeager in simulation, as he had every other time. He could move the mecha easily, even more so when drifting with Knockout, but this was precisely the issue.

Delving into Knockouts mind was too easy made worse by the desire to fall into his memories. It was against protocol, as it created a high risk of falling out of sync- something that was deadly in the middle of battle, simulation or not. Resisting chasing the R.A.B.I.T., or the random access brain impulse triggers, was a crucial part of his training. Knockout, being a veteran, didn't have this issue, while Jack had twice now fallen victim to it. Once during their first ever drifting and again only a two weeks ago. It had been a harmless enough memory; Knockout spending shore leave with those he considered family and drinking to those that had been lost. Jack felt a little tipsy himself after experiencing the memory first hand.

Knockout himself hadn't really been himself afterward though, becoming unusually sullen and quiet before retreating to his room.

"You ready Jack?" Knockout cut into his musings, snapping his focus back. He nodded.

"As I'll ever be. What are we fighting this time?"

"Category two. You've done pretty well in combat training lately so they're upping the difficulty for us." Knockout finished the final touches of his suit, the spinal strap the last thing to be snapped into place. He patiently waited for Jack to do the same.

The sudden jerk as they drifted was becoming an increasingly familiar and comfortable sensation to Jack as he saw wave after wave of Knockouts life in flashes of memories that flickered quickly through his head, the same happening in Knockouts. He focus on reality, the Drift becoming a pleasant hum in the back of his mind as they focus on moving the Jeager arms pulling up.

"Try to loosen up kid." Knockout grinned at him from under the glass shield covering his face, feeling Jacks nervousness seeping into him.

"Yeah...yeah okay." Jack muttered, taking a deep breath as the moved their legs simultaneously to move the Jeager into position within the training room.

It had been relatively challenging at first, the category two Kaiju stronger, smarter and faster than the previous classification had been, but together they were able to begin overpowering the beast. Jack kept in mind to keep the spread of its highly toxic blood to a minimum, using the buzz saw as a last resort when it had them pinned against a building.

"Keep it down!" Knockout shouted over the pummeling, slugging it repeatedly in the head. But Jack didn't seem to hear him, having gone still inside his suit and staring blankly outward. A pull on his mind and images flashing through his eyes alerted him to the fact that Jack had fallen into a memory of Breakdown. That brief moment of hesitation was all the Kaiju needed to impale its claws through the helm they resided in.

"Simulation terminated. Result: Failure. Would you like to try again?" The voice of an A.I. sounded as the image of their battle faded into static, Knockout ripping his helmet off, running to Jack and doing the same.

"Come on Jack, wake up!" He slapped the side of Jacks head, hoping to snap him out of the memory he was trapped in. Out of everything in his head why did it have to be _that_ one?

Jack still wasn't coming to though, his eyes wide and blank as they stared at something no one else could see. When his arms jerked up to block his face he screamed, greatly startling Knockout before he went limp in his arms, unconscious.

"I need a medic!" He shouted through the comm, the Jeager powering down completely.

* * *

Jack jerked sharply when he came two hours later, his head throbbing while a hand automatically shot to his chest. When he felt his rapid heartbeat he relaxed a little, the thumping in his ears like music to him.

When his breathing settled down, he looked around and saw he was in a plain hospital room like the one his mother worked at back at home. It was dull, like most hospital buildings, and he was in a bed with white, slightly rough sheets that felt slightly uncomfortable against his skin. To his right he saw he was hooked up to a monitor.

Hands falling to the sheets, Jack gripped onto them, his mind still reeling from the memory he had experienced during the simulation. No doubt it ended in disaster...they would probably kick him out of the program for this. How would his mother react when he returned home as a failure?

He had only a few moments to sulk in self pity before he heard the door open however, a doctor coming in with a nurse behind him.

The man gave Jack one look, then at the heart monitor beside him and breathed out a relieved sigh. "You gave us a scare there. We thought we lost you for a moment."

"Er...sorry?"

The man waved his hand dismissively, standing near the edge of the bed. "I need to run a few tests to make sure you're alright. Do you remember what happened?" He asked as he took out a syringe and band that was soon tied around his forearm, above his elbow. Jack winced when the rubber pinched his skin painfully and his arm started to turn a pinkish color.

"Uh, kind of..." He answered vaguely. "We were in a simulation, training to fight against the Kaiju. It was our first time fighting a category two."

"Yes, you were doing quite well from what I heard."

Jack stiffened when the needle pricked his bulging vein, blood flowing into the previously empty syringe and causing him to feel a bit sluggish.

"Then I...I messed up." The teen muttered, hanging his head low. "I saw a memory of my partners and I...I stuck on to it."

"That would explain the readings the observers received." He said as he removed the needle from his arm. "Get some rest. Your partner will be here momentarily to go over what happened."

Jack let out a sigh as the doctor and nurse left. Knockout was going to be so fragged off at him. Jack couldn't blame him for being angry either. He would have been upset himself if he had been forced to relive the death of his previous partner. To actually _feel_ him die, seeing and feeling what he did in the moment of his passing and the cold blackness that followed suit when Breakdown was no more. It was a feeling he couldn't describe.

Not twenty minutes after the doc had left had Knockout arrived, his appearance a little more haggard than it usually was. It was proof to Jack that Knockout was furious with him- the man never went anywhere without looking his best.

"Knockout I...I'm-"

Arms were thrown around him, pressing him into a tight hug that cut off his words. Silence filled the room.

When Knockout finally let go he stared hard at his face. "Are you okay?"

"I...what?"

Knockout scowled.

"I said are you okay? After what you experienced in my head..."

"Y-yeah. I'll be okay." Jack said softly, looking away from his partner. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked."

There was a pause in which Knockout stared ate him intensely, his face devoid of any describable emotions. Then,

"You idiot! You think _that's_ what I'm worried about?" He accused, causing Jack to jump in his hospital gown. "I thought you were going to be comatose! I thought that because of me that you'd end up as a vegetable!"

"But I thought- you should be angry with me!" Jack countered after he got over his shock at Knockouts reaction. "It was my fault and the simulation was ruined and now I'm going to be kicked out-"

"Who told you that?" Knockout said, his unusual red eyes seeming to intensify for a moment. "No one is kicking you out of anything over a simulation failure. Especially since you're still so new to this. Even if they were they'd have to get through me first."

"You mean you still want me as your partner even after I screwed up?" Knockout rolled his eyes.

"Of course I do." He said simply as though Jack should have known this all along. "You shouldn't doubt me like that. You've been in my head after all."

"I just thought...I mean I saw him. You're last partner, and how he died and I thought after something like that you'd resent me for prying."

"Breakdown is always on my mind. If anything this incident was my fault. I should have been concentrating more on the fight than I should have been on him. It's a wonder that this didn't happen sooner."

"...I'm sorry about him." Jack said after a moment in which neither of them said anything.

"So am I, every single day. I've been stuck on Breakdowns death for years now...but thanks to you I've been able to start moving forward again."

"Partners?" Jack asked, smiling a little now.

"Always."


End file.
